Help the Pioneer Home

The Wyoming State Legislature is currently considering a bill that would eliminate a Wyoming institution that has been around since 1949.

The Wyoming Pioneer Home, part of the Wyoming Department of Health’s Aging Division, provides assisted living for the seniors of Wyoming at a reasonable cost, but now, the Legislature is attempting to privatize the facility and remove the state from any connection with the home.

One section of the bill claims Hot Springs County is the only place that benefits from the Pioneer Home.

Yes, locals are employed there. There is no guarantee, if the bill passes, that a private company coming in will keep those employees on the payroll, however, not all of the residents there are from Hot Springs County. The facility is open to all Wyoming seniors, no matter which corner of the state they come from.

If you look at the fiscal notes on the bill, the savings to the State of Wyoming would be $1,451,092 each year. A drop in the proverbial bucket when you consider the benefits to Wyoming’s elderly.

The average cost of assisted living facilities in the United States is $3,000 per person, per month. Those living at the Pioneer Home pay, on average, about half that amount. How many seniors in Wyoming could afford $3,000 a month? How many seniors in Wyoming have even close to that amount in savings or social security payments?

Most residents at the Pioneer Home have sold off all of their belongings in order to live there. If privatized and the cost doubles, where are these folks going to go?

Privatization of the Pioneer Home would put Wyoming’s elderly in an untenable position.

So what can we do?

Call your state representatives, call your state senators, call the governor’s office and tell them the bill is unacceptable to the people of Wyoming.

And you don’t have to call just your own representatives or senators, you can call them all. Phone numbers of each legislator along with their email addresses are all listed on the Wyoming Legislature’s website at legisweb.state.wy.us.

Call now. Email now. The future of Wyoming’s elderly is on the chopping block for a measly $1.4 million.